56 57 n ú m e r o V i n t e e t r ê s d e z e m b r o t w e n t y - t h i r d I s s u e d e c e m b e r

Campo para estudantes StudentS’ Corner Campo para estudantes StudentS’ Corner

MY IGEM EXPERIENCE: FROM BIOLOGY TO ECOLOGY

the International Genetically engineered

Machine (iGeM) competition is an

annually organised competition for

students in Synthetic Biology and the

host is iGeM Foundation in Cambridge,

Massachusetts, uSA. In this competition,

each student team work throughout the

summer to build genetically engineered

systems using standardised genetic

parts called Biobricks. Moreover, the

iGeM teams work inside and outside the

lab, creating sophisticated projects that

strive to create a positive contribution

to their communities and the world.

the accomplishments of these projects

are always impressive and may lead to

important advances in medicine, energy,

and the environment. In 2017, 296

student teams from around the world

presented their work performed during

the summer and led to the establishment

of tens of biotech startups.

the university of edinburgh (uoe) has

been taking part in iGeM for over ten

years and is the longest continually

running team in the uK. As according

to the uoe, I was selected for the

overgraduate iGeM team based on

my academic ability, engagement and

overall interest in synthetic biology. the

university of edinburgh overgraduate

team this year is looking at addressing the

pressing issues of bio-based alternatives

to plastic: cost-efficiency and truly

sustainable models remain a challenge.

As a solution, the team is investigating the

production of polyhydroxybutyrate-co-

valerate (PhBV), looking not only at using

industrial co-products as substrate but

also improving downstream processing.

PhBV and other polyhydroxyalkanoates

lo, loK in (oWen)the university of edinburgh, uKMaster of Science in drug discovery and translational Biology

(PhA) are thermoplastics that can

be designed with bespoke physical

properties based on their relative

compositions.

By introducing genes from an organ-

ism called Cupriavidus necatorinto, a

recombinant strain of escherichia coli,

it is possible to produce PhBV from

by-products of local whisky distilleries.

Furthermore, the team is aiming to

reduce costs associated with current

extraction methods. to complement

this project, the team is developing

not only in silico metabolic models for

optimized polymer synthesis but also

macro-scale models (i.e. bioprocessing

simulation and life cycle assessment)

to assess the environmental and eco-

nomic impact of these products in their

life cycles. Bioprocessing simulation

provides insight on the efficiency and

productivity of the proposed process

in industrial scale in which the data

obtained is further analysed in the life

cycle assessment. through life cycle

assessment, it is possible to pinpoint

the hotspots of the production that

currently contribute to the inefficiency

and hinder the commercialisation of the

overall PhBV production.

A major promising characteristic of

PhAs, as stated by a spokesperson from

consulting firm Cambridge Consultants,

is their status as thermoplastics, which

means that may be easily moulded

and remoulded into different products.

Incorporating these bioplastics into the

bio-economy would not disrupt the

recycling process as well. while introducing

alternative materials may contribute to

the solution, a number of interviews with

industrial and societal stakeholders such

as dr Adrian higson - head of Biorefining

from nnFCC (the national non-Food Crop

Center, uK department of energy and

Climate Change) highlighted the issue that

remains with single-use plastics. As part

of this iGeM team’s mission, the team is

also partnering with other teams to study

the life cycle of other plastics beyond

PhAs such as polystyrene consumption

and disposal. we have seen that there

is interest in addressing the government

is interested in the issue of single-use

plastics as Scotland was the first uK

country to ban plastic cotton buds.

other than interviewing different spokes-

persons or representatives from related

stakeholders, as part of the Integrated

human Practices team work, and

contributed to the web lab experiment

group, I was also the main contributor of

the education and Public engagement,

igem.org/Main_Page

and being the Boston Jamboree trip

coordinator. our education and public

engagement aimed to design a specific

iGeM induction with a series of synthetic

biology teaching games and courses

based on our own experience, to promote

iGeM and synthetic biology. we aimed to

focus on places where iGeM and synthetic

biology is less commonly known.

In order to tackle this issue, we have

worked with an edinburgh local startup,

www.ed.ac.uk

58 59 n ú m e r o V i n t e e t r ê s d e z e m b r o t w e n t y - t h i r d I s s u e d e c e m b e r

called Smart home education Ltd.,

which mostly focuses on developing and

expanding their online educational plat-

form. this opportunity potentially allowed

us to maximum our outreach. Back to the

edinburgh local region, our team have

also presented our iGeM project to the

year 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 univer-

sity of edinburgh MSc student cohort and

discussed our experience of integrating

iGeM into our MSc degree programme.

the iGeM project was divided into 10

individual sub-projects, each with a

novel question to process. we also

introduced how human practice would

be accomplished in different ways and

the amazing creativity from other team in

previous years, as there is and should be

no limitation. through these information

sharing, we have inspired those potential

iGeMers to think outside of the box and

remind them the importance of communi-

cated with different people in the industry.

through our sharing, we prepare our

potential new iGeMers of the university of

edinburgh oG team.

After all that hard work, our team have

managed to successfully produce a high

quality, biodegradable bioplastic over

the summer. we travelled to Boston to

present and our team was elated to be

awarded Gold medal prizes. to better

summaries our achievement, I would like

to quote from the science communication

platform, Synbiologue.com in their ‘ IGeM

2018 reCAP’: ‘’...... judges and poster

visitors inquired whether they would be

spinning out a startup company with the

idea, which is not uncommon.’’ •

Campo para estudantes StudentS’ Corner Campo para estudantes StudentS’ Corner

synbiologue.com